Best Grenade Launchers in Destiny 2: Overview and God Rolls
Get ready to check out the ultimate Destiny 2 Best Grenade Launchers list!
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways:
- This list consists of 12 guns, including seven Special and five best Heavy Grenade Launchers
- You can find detailed descriptions of each GL, as well as our God Roll recommendations
- Guardians can obtain guns in both Raids, Trials, and solo activities for ease of use
In Destiny 2, there are several Grenade Launchers (GL) types: Special and Heavy. Each has its own Archetypes, possessing not only different RPMs but also a unique projectile. Each weapon is useful in certain situations, and today, we’ll quickly talk about them and their best representatives. So, let’s find out how you can upgrade your loadout!
Destiny 2 Best Special Grenade Launchers
First, let’s look at the best Special Grenade Launchers in Destiny 2, which often find an intelligent application, even in PvP. So, without further ado, let’s start!
Special Grenade Launchers Guide
The main difference between Special GLs and Heavy is that you can store a maximum of one round in the magazine. Because of this, perks like Auto-Loading Holster or Ambitious Assassin are almost mandatory for this type of weapon.
There are four different archetypes of Special Grenade Launchers, but they all differ significantly from each other:
- Lightweight Frame (Normal shot with remote detonation)
- Wave Frame (When the projectile touches the ground, it turns into a wave of energy)
- Double Fire (Shooting two grenades with remote detonation)
- Micro-Missile Frame (Fires in a straight line, has the ability to do a Rocket Jump)
Each of these archetypes is good, but only when used correctly. Micro-Missile Frame can be considered the best among its competitors, since in addition to excellent damage it has unique features that make it so pleasant to use. Double Fire GLs are best suited for DPS Phases, as they have the highest damage among other Frames. If you need add-clear weapons, you won’t find anything better than Destiny 2 Wave Frame Grenade Launchers. Lightweight Frame is something in between the archetypes mentioned above.
Special GLs have five different perks for Magazines, and each of them gives your projectiles a unique property:
- Disorienting Grenades: disorients (PvE Combatants stop using abilities) almost all enemies within the projectile’s radius. Extremely useful in Endgame Content.
- Proximity Grenades: projectiles automatically detonate if there are enemies nearby. Useful in Crucible.
- Spike Grenades: increases Impact Damage by 50%, making it a Must-Have Perk in DPS Weapons
- High-Velocity Rounds: Increases Velocity and Reload Speed. Excellent choice for Wave Frame.
- Implosion Rounds: the projectile flies faster and has a controlled explosion. The most useless magazine.
Disorienting and Spike Grenades are the best choices for PvE. The first magazine is perfect for Grandmaster Nightfalls, while the second is more suitable for single-target damage. So, if you want to get best Grenade Launcher Destiny 2 ever had, you need these Magazines.
Witherhoard
- How to Get: Monument to Lost Lights
Let’s start our list with a Grenade Launcher, Witherhoard, that has been in the Guardians’ inventory for almost four years now. Witherhoard is quite unique in its operation as it does not shoot a regular projectile but a unique taken projectile instead. It can either attach to a foe, dealing damage over 8 seconds, or transform into a small pool upon touching the ground, gradually damaging enemies standing in it. Because of this, Witherhoard is a rather versatile Exotic, allowing it to be used both as an add-clear and a DPS weapon. Don’t forget to make a Catalyst, which gives +40 Handling and Auto-Loading Holster, to make playing with this weapon even more enjoyable.
The Mountaintop
- How to Get: Onslaught
- The Mountaintop God Roll for PvE:
- Impulse Amplifier / Auto-loading Holster / Ambitious Assassin / Demolitionist / Lead from Gold
- Vorpal Weapon / Frenzy / Recombination
If you played during the Forsaken or Shadowkeep times, you surely remember The Mountaintop, which all Guardians used until the game introduced Sunset. A few years later, this unique Special GL will finally return to the players’ hands, only to become better. The Micro-Missile Perk has now become a full-fledged Archetype that allows Guardians to perform Rocket Jump and will no longer occupy a Trait Slot.
Do you want to learn more about The Mountaintop and other Into the Light weapons? We have a separate article where you can find out how to obtain these guns and their best perks.
Forbearance
- How to Get: Vow of the Disciple Raid
- Forbearance God Roll for PvE:
- Ambitious Assassin
- Chain Reaction
Forbearance from the Vow of the Disciple is an obvious choice for any situation from all other guns on the Destiny 2 Best PvE Grenade Launchers list. Although the raid has been released for a long time, this Wave frame Grenade Launcher still shows its effectiveness in PvE, thanks to the archetype, the possibility of crafting, and one combination of perks.
By using Ambitious Assassin and Chain Reaction, the player can overfill their magazine depending on the rapid takedowns and create explosions at the defeated enemies’ locations. Thus, you have a real ad-clear machine in your hands, which will have a huge magazine and destroy everything in its path.
No wonder Forbearance is still considered one of the best Grenade Launchers in Destiny 2.
Salvager’s Salvo
- How to Get: Monument to Lost Lights
If you are a Solo Player or just don’t go to Raids, Forbearance has a great replacement, available to all players without exception. It’s about Salvager’s Salvo, an old Ritual Weapon that has not lost its relevance to this day. It can be acquired at the Monument to Lost Lights for a relatively low price: 75000 Glimmer, 1 Ascendant Shard, and 2 Enhancement Prisms.
Although this GL is not a Wave Frame like the previous weapon, it has a combination of Ambitious Assassin and Chain Reaction, which is still easily capable of destroying crowds of enemies in a second. However, unlike Forbearance, Salvager’s Salvo also has Demolitionist and Vorpal Weapon, making it excellent for DPS Phases and easily the best DPS Grenade Launcher in Destiny 2. By the way, if you play on Grenade Builds, then Demolitionist + Chain Reaction will suit you best.
Tusk Of The Boar
- How to Get: Iron Banner
- Tusk Of The Boar God Roll for PvE:
- Slice / Enlightened Action / Envious Assassin / Slideways
- Chain Reaction / Hatchling
Let’s move on to the Destiny 2 best Wave frame Grenade Launcher, which features Chain Reaction, namely the Tusk Of The Boar. This Special Grenade Launcher has appeared quite recently but has already managed to interest even those people who don’t like Iron Banner.
Regarding what you can get on this amazing Destiny 2 Wave Frame GL:
- Strand Builds would certainly not be opposed to a combination of Slice and Hatchling.
- For more neutral play, Enlightened Action and Chain Reaction are the obvious favorites due to their effective ad-clear and high reload speed.
- Also, we advise you to pay attention to such a perk as Slideways. Of course, unlike Slideshot, the weapon’s reload during Slide has a three-second cooldown, but this does not make it a bad choice.
Like the previous weapon, Tusk of the Boar is an excellent choice for Solo players and those who do not want to engage in endgame PvE activities. Moreover, the huge variety of perks makes it a fascinating option for those who want to try something new with their Special Grenade Launcher in Destiny 2.
Lingering Dread
- How to Get: Duality Dungeon
- Lingering Dread God Roll for PvE:
- Auto-Loading Holster
- Chill Clip
Moving from ad-clear GLs to those best used as Utility or DPS Weapons. First, let’s talk about Lingering Dread since it’s the only Special Grenade Launcher with Chill Clip. This perk allows every direct hit from the gun to slow down the enemy, and three hits will even freeze them, thereby stunning Overload and Unstoppable Champions. In combination with Disorienting Grenades, you get one of the most powerful GLs for GM Nightfalls, so we advise you to obtain Lingering Dread.
Wilderflight
- How to Get: Spire of the Watcher Dungeon
- Wilderflight God Roll for PvE:
- Auto-Loading Holster
- Frenzy / Vorpal Weapon / Lead from Gold
Wilderflight features a Double Fire frame, which has increased damage compared to Lightweight, making it better for DPS phases. Unlike the recently released Wild Style, the perks here are excellent, and there is even an Auto-Loading Holster, which is necessary for all Special GLs. If you are going to use it to deal high damage, then definitely choose Frenzy or Vorpal Weapon together with Spike Grenades. At the same time, Lead from Gold is more suitable in combination with Disorienting Grenades. With all this information in mind, Wilderflight can easily be called in Destiny 2 best legendary Grenade Launcher.
Destiny 2 Best Heavy Grenade Launchers
Next, we’ll take a look at every best Heavy Grenade Launcher in Destiny 2, which has gained immense power with the mid-update in Season of the Wish.
Heavy Grenade Launchers Guide
So, let’s figure out what Heavy GLs are, as they are pretty different from Special GLs. The first main difference is the archetype:
- Adaptive Frame (120 RPM)
- Rapid-Fire Frame (150 RPM)
- Compressed Wave Frame (120 RPM)
All archetypes are roughly equal in damage dealt, but Adaptive Frame is still preferable for DPS, while Compressed Wave Frame will be more useful in ad-clear.
The variety of Magazines in Heavy GLs is much broader than in Special Ones. After Patch 7.3.5, Grenade Launchers underwent many changes, making many magazines useful. Since you’re already familiar with Proximity and Spike, let’s pay attention to three other Magazines:
- Mini Frags: increases magazine capacity and Reload Speed at the expense of a small amount of Blast Radius.
- Alloy Casing: significantly improves Reload Speed at the expense of Stability.
- Augmented Drum: increases magazine capacity at the expense of Reload Speed.
Parasite
- How to Get: “Of Queens and Worms” Exotic Quest
Let’s start with the only exotic on our list and almost the best Heavy Grenade Launcher in Destiny 2: Parasite. This weapon is very situational but indispensable in some missions, as it can deal colossal Burst Damage to bosses.
The essence of Parasite is to destroy as many enemies as possible to accumulate the Worm’s Hunger buff up to x20. With this buff, your next shot from Parasite will have increased damage depending on how many stacks of the buff you have accumulated (1 stack = 10% bonus damage). A pleasant bonus is the Worm Byproduct perk, which increases the damage to your other weapons if the explosion from this GL hits you.
Parasite is definitively the best Exotic Grenade Launcher in Destiny 2, and you must get it if you want to complete some Raids and Dungeons successfully.
Edge Transit
- How to Get: Trials of Osiris
- Edge Transit God Roll for PvE:
- Cascade Point / Envious Assassin
- Bait and Switch
The Destiny 2 Heavy Grenade Launcher for any content can confidently be considered Edge Transit, thanks to combinations of three perks: Cascade Point, Envious Assassin, and Bait and Switch. The first two perks are unique because they are in the same column. Since you can get an Edge Transit with two perks in one column before The Final Shape, you can overfill your magazine using Envious Assassin and switch to Cascade Point before the Damage Phase to increase your DPS. Along with this, it is best to use Bait and Switch, which increases damage from this gun by a whole 30% when dealing damage to an enemy from all your weapons, which is not so difficult to implement.
If you wanted to get the best Heavy GL for raids or other endgame content with enhanced perks, Edge Transit is your choice!
Cataphract GL3
- How to Get: Trials of Osiris
- Cataphract Gl3 God Roll for PvE:
- Envious Assassin / Auto-Loading Holster / Demolitionist / Field Prep
- Bait and Switch / Cascade Point
A good replacement for Edge Transit is Cataphract Gl3, although it will be much harder to obtain. Although it doesn’t have Cascade Point in the third column, it features Bait and Switch, which gives a 30% Bonus Damage. An important distinction is that it has Strand Energy, making it an excellent choice for Strand Builds, whether you are a Strand Hunter, Strand Warlock, or Strand Titan. In addition, you are able to use magazine perks like Envious Assassin or Auto-Loading Holster, allowing you to forget about the need to reload.
Koraxis’s Distress
- How to Get: Root of Nightmares Raid
- Koraxis’s Distress God Roll for PvE:
- Reconstruction / Envious Assassin
- Surrounded / Frenzy
It’s also worth talking about Koraxis’s Distress, which is the Destiny 2 best craftable Grenade Launcher. Moreover, it has one of the most vital Damage Perks: Surrounded, which gives a 47% bonus damage in its enhanced version. Envious Assassin may not always be helpful, especially in Raids, so Reconstruction on this gun is the preferred choice. If it’s challenging to activate Surrounded, Frenzy would be much preferable, giving 15% Damage, 100 Handling, and Reload Speed bonus for being in combat for a long duration.
Wendigo GL3
- How to Get: Vanguard Legacy Focusing
- Wendigo GL3 God Roll for PvE:
- Auto-Loading Holster / Clown Cartridge / Field Prep
- Explosive Light / Cascade Point
Do you want Arc Heavy GL for your Arc Builds? Well, then you’ll like Wendigo GL3, which is one of the Destiny 2 best legendary Heavy Grenade Launchers!
Like previous weapons, it has Auto-Loading Holster and Field Prep in the third column. However, it also possesses a Clown Cartridge, capable of randomly overfilling your magazine up to 50% after reloading. In the fourth column, things get a bit more interesting, as in addition to the familiar Cascade Point, there’s Explosive Light. With its help, you get a buff stack for picking up Orbs of Power, improving your blast radius, and increasing the damage of the next shot by 60%. At the same time, you can have up to six buff stacks, and one shot spends one stack.
Final Words on Every Destiny 2 Best GL
In the end, we recommend you to choose whatever pleases your soul, as you can see, the choice is vast. The main thing is to have the right perks and suitable archetype to efficiently deal with hordes of enemies and deal colossal damage. Moreover, weapons in other slots play no less important role, so we recommend checking out the Destiny 2 Best PvE Weapons guide, where we went through each slot.
If you need help farming weapons from this list, you can always turn to Destiny 2 services. Our professionals can save you time while you farm what you need or, alternatively, help you complete a particular task.
Thanks for Reading! Owl is Flying Away.
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